Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bedding and more specifically to blankets
Description of Related Art
The inventors have not found any pertinent related art, domestic or foreign, in the form of patents, patent applications, or commercial items.
Bedding blankets are available in a variety of styles and materials. They are generally similar in construction, basically comprising a rectangular shaped article of fabric with a hem around the perimeter. Various fabrics are used in the construction of a blanket, and a particular fabric is chosen to meet objectives such as cost, texture, weight, durability, esthetics, and laundering issues. Commonly used materials in the fabrication of blankets are fleece (natural or polyester), acrylic, polyester, cotton, or wool.
Blankets generally comprise a single layer of fabric; however, two layers of fabric may be used with a filler, such as a commonly used polyester fiberfill material (a blend of polyester fibers) sandwiched between them to enable increased insulation and therefore increased warmth for the user. As an example, fiberfill material is also used as insulation in jackets and comforters.
Primarily, a blanket is used by a person to cover oneself with to achieve a feeling of warmth and comfort. The warmth provided by a blanket is due to the insulating effect achieved by slowing down the loss of heat from the user's body, as well as retaining lost body heat within the blanket, and between the blanket and the user. The magnitude of the insulating effect depends upon the materials and structural design of the blanket.
A blanket can also act as padding to accomplish a cushioning effect when placed beneath the user. Although a blanket is most often used to cover one's body, there are times when a person may be in a situation where they are positioned on a hard surface such as the floor, the ground, or a hard seat or bench. In these situations, a blanket can be useful to act as a cushion between the hard surface and one's body. A blanket can be folded over multiple times to achieve a satisfactory amount of padding if the user will be resting on the blanket; however, the area covered by the blanket will then decrease each time the blanket is folded over. The amount of cushioning is dependent upon the materials used and the structural design of the blanket.
A blanket can serve as a comfort or security object in which case it can be hugged, or otherwise held in such a way as to comfort the user by satisfying various needs of the human psyche. The scientific community believes this can be important to a person's mental and emotional well-being. Adults as well as children have been found to benefit from the use of a comfort object such as a blanket. The term “security blanket” refers to this use.
Existing blankets generally fulfill one or more of the above features to various degrees, but there exists a need for a blanket which can more amply fulfill all of the above features to the greater benefit of a user. Many blankets are thin and are useful in mildly cool temperatures, but are not so effective at maintaining an adequate degree of warmth and comfort for an individual in excessively cold ambient temperatures. These relatively thin blankets are mainly useful when minimal warmth and protection from cold is needed. Since most available blankets are constructed of a single layer of fabric, they do not provide a high degree of cushioning for resting a person's body upon. Blankets filled with commonly used polyester fiberfill material improve upon the cushioning effect, but still do not inherently provide much in the way of a supportive, substantial means to cushion the body. Additionally, the objective of improving an individual's emotional well being with a comfort/security object is well known in the field of psychology, but this objective is generally not addressed with currently available blankets. Although any sort of blanket or object including stuffed animals can be used as a comfort object, the features that optimally afford this use with a blanket are lacking in the prior art.